India vs England: Bairstow out to controversial decision

Mumbai: England batsman Jonny Bairstow, who was dismissed in the final over before lunch on day three of the ongoing second Test against India here today, may not have been out as per the laws of cricket.

Bairstow stretched forward and tried to flick left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha against the turn and the ball went to Gautam Gambhir at silly point, struck the fielder's hand and hit his helmet's grill and dropped back into his hands.

The batsman walked off immediately and the fielding side as well as not out batsman Kevin Pietersen too walked off the field for lunch with the two umpires.

But replays later showed exactly what happened and the two umpires, Tony Hill and Aleem Dar, were seen having a discussion with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni just before they trooped out for the start of the second session.

England batsman Jonny Bairstow. AFP

It was not clear what exactly transpired in the conversation between the two umpires and the India captain. The decision stayed and Samit Patel came out to bat after lunch with Pietersen.

Incidentally, in the last series between the two teams in which India was whitewashed 4-0, a huge controversy had erupted in the second Test at Trent Bridge, when Ian Bell, who was on 137, left the crease thinking that a hit by his partner at the wicket Eoin Morgan had crossed the boundary and that the two umpires had called tea.

Fielder Praveen Kumar threw in from the deep after the ball had stopped just inside the ropes back to the middle and the bails were taken off. The Indians appealed and Bell was given out.

The batsman walked off but was reinstated after Dhoni, in a rare gesture of sportsmanship following a discussion between the two teams' managements, withdrew the appeal and Bell batted on before getting out at 159.